Alright, you got me. I didn’t realize that Kate Williams was writing a book just to prank me and all my 1990’s sisters, but here it is. So I hear you watched The Craft, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the original Babysitters Club growing up? Let’s just throw all that shit together into a tongue-in-cheek smoothie, and out pops The Babysitters Coven.

This book is wild. I had no idea what I was getting into when I started it, and I’m not sure what I read after I finished it. I think I liked it. In fact, reflecting on it for this review, I’m almost positive I liked it. But that could be one of the Sitters casting a spell.

Here’s the gist: Esme is a stereotypical I’m-a-regular-girl girl. Her and her best friend Janis go through an exhausting amount of effort dressing for school everyday in their thrift-store outfits. The preposterous amount of time that Williams spends describing their style is perplexing, but I might have related to that were I still in high school.

Esme turns seventeen and develops powers. The new girl, Cassandra, catches her using those powers in gym. The big reveal is that Cassandra also has powers. They’re both part of a sacred secret inheritance passed down through the generations of women in their family. They’re Sitters--they literally babysit the Hellmouth (I mean the Portal) in the “Definite” (our world) that leaks monsters from the “Negative” (the demon plane) into Sunnydale. I mean, Spring River. Whatever, it’s just Buffy, and the characters acknowledge as much.

Of course, The Babysitters Coven goes a lot less hard than Buffy ever went. Their Watcher is a gym teacher named Brian who forgets to train them because football season is especially time-consuming this year. The spells they use to manipulate the world around them require treasures to cast---and these treasures are laughably the cutest part of the whole book. Their final boss spell requires: a “do not disturb” sign, a rose quartz crystal, a playbill from Wicked, cinnamon sticks, a clementine, seven hot-pink plastic army men, a dried-up wrist corsage, and a cucumber vape cartridge.

This book had me clutching my face in laughter and embarrassment. I’m not sure if it’s so silly that it’s frivolous (Esme casts a spell on her flatulent dog so that she can speak, but spends more time commenting on the dog’s stench) or so silly that it’s perfect (one of the characters gets stuck in the Negative, but talks to Esme through a Magic 8-Ball, one glowing triangle word at a time.)

This book looked like it would be the perfect book for me, and it was a good book, but it did fall short in a few ways. I’ll get those out of the way quickly in this review and then tell you why I think you should still read it! Much of what was disappointing about this book was that it felt like a first book in a series, and by that I mean that while there was a story arc it still felt like a lot of this was just set up for something bigger. That is understandable, it is of course the role of the first book to introduce us to characters and the trials ahead of them, but when you finish a book and it feels like you were just starting to get into things it leaves a bit of a frustrating feeling. One thing that will either endear the book to a reader or drive them a bit crazy is the use of slang. I do want the teenagers in the books I read to sound like teens, but sometimes it felt like the author was trying too hard to use that voice. That can also lead to trouble down the road when somebody picks up the book in 5 years and has no idea what AF means. A final small point is that a character in the book is in a mental institution and while I understand the desire to make it clear that it isn’t a fun place, some of the things that occur in relation to being institutionalized were very demeaning.

Now, with those things out of the way, here is why I will still be recommending this book! I did end the book wanting more, but there is already an announced sequel coming. I know I will be reading it, so that tells you that the story was compelling. The book has fun references to The Babysitters Club and Buffy which were fun along the way, and set the scene well. Esme, the main character, is a typical teen in many ways who hates school lunch, wants to avoid the bully in gym class, and is scared of driver’s ed. It is fun to watch her figure out what being a Sitter really means and watching her friendship with best friend Janis and new friend Cassandra. The magic is fun, because we can all immediately think of how we would use it in our every day life. And one of my favorite parts of the book? Esme’s dog, Pig, a pit bull who is a big ball of love! So, give the book a chance because I think we are in for an overall good series and I can’t wait for more!

Thank you NetGalley for an early copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This book has incredible 90s teen movie vibes, which is fitting, since it's pitched as Adventures in Babysitting meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with a ton of Halloween vibes sprinkled in for good measure. Is it a little on the nose at times? Sure. But it is also a ton of fun? YES. There's something so familiar and cozy about it. Actually, it reminded me a tiny bit of Sweep, one of my all time favorite series, because it's got similar witchy vibes.

It definitely screams TEENAGER at you the whole time, to the point where you could sometimes tell this was clearly written by an adult trying to emulate The Youths™, but most of the time I didn't really mind at all, because Esme, the narrator, is pretty witty, so being in her head is a fun ride.

I did have some issues. First, the whole setup feels a bit contrived. [Like, why do they have to be babysitters? It would have been fine if a clear connection had been set up, but for some reason it wasn't, even though the connection was RIGHT THERE? It's very clear that these entities from The Negative feed on positive emotions that are generally found in children, so why not make that clear and establish that The Sitters pretend to be babysitters so they can be near children? This was such an obvious thing to me that I was really confused when the book never, ever pointed it out. (hide spoiler)]

The second issue relates to the character of Brian. [ That entire scene when he orders Esme and Cassandra to go to his house was just...A Mess. In so many ways. The whole time the girls keep saying it's shady for a grown man to be kidnapping them like that, and IT TOTALLY IS, and it doesn't endear you to Brian's character at all. And then he literally says, "I'm going to force you to do a lot of things" like??? I'm sorry??? I get that the narrative was trying to do a whole misdirection thing but it really just makes it seem like Brian is a total creep. And then at the end when he's fake!accused of having an inappropriate relationship with teen girls...I just didn't understand why this heavy emphasis on the potential inappropriateness of Brian. It was weird and uncomfortable and totally unnecessary and out of place in a book that's so light-hearted. (hide spoiler)]

Otherwise this was super fun. I got into it right away and couldn't put it down. (less)

This book was everything I was expecting to be, and more! I loved the direct reference to Buffy and how the characters relate their own story to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The parallels and the humor of the characters acknowledging said parallels was perfect! The characters were funny and I look forward to the sequel! There's witchcraft, fashion, drama, and strong Babysitter's Club vibes.

This is a great combination of the Baby-Sitter's Club (vaguely) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Though some of the characters are more fleshed out than others, the book is a fun romp into demon territory. My only complaint is that I read this book as an ARC because now I have to wait even longer for the sequel!

I thought the first chapter of this novel was great. I was totally hooked! However as the story went on I found it wasn’t the semi scary vampire hunting story I had thought it would be. I think this novel would be perfect for the age range of 13-16 but I found it a little young for me. Which is weird because YA is my favorite genre. I loved all of the clothes the girls wore in this. Their sense of fashion is wicked! I enjoyed Pig, the pit bull. The cover of this is stunning and I loved the plot but the story wasn’t my favorite.

I am allllll for witches (I mean Sitters) being the new vampires. BRing on the GIRL POWER!

Thank you to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for the chance to review this title ahead of its release date.

This book was a fantastic opening to a series that really allowed you to understand the beginnings of the world without feeling overwhelmed. The book had the feelings of a superhero origin story, and I did not mind that at all. With a hint of romance that does not end how you hope it will and true friendship through great odds this book did a great job of developing both the main character and her best friend. The characters are genuine and real even with the magical mystical framework of this story and it make the narrative compelling to follow. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a contemporary ya series to start a journey with!

Almost sad I read this book already because now I have to wait until fall of 2020 to see where Kate Williams can take this world. Will be honored to read that arc as well when it comes out!

PS Janis finds out again, right? because I need janis in the coven

⭐ARC from NetGalley in exchange for honest review⭐

This book pulled me in within the first few pages. It was a magical witchy like read that was beautifully paced and kept me wanting more.

I will be buying the book once its released! (because that cover 😍)

Now I will impatiently wait until fall of 2020 for the second book.

What an adorable first book to kick-off a new series!
Williams writes with such a youthful, quick tone, I couldn’t help but laughing at the girls’ dialogue and feeling like I was right there for the day to day high school melodrama. I especially love the descriptions of their outfits and even the shorthand IDKs & IRLs included. It was fun to have such a fresh twist on an old classic, too, with lots of homages to the old Baby-Sitters Club series but updated technology and a whole new aspect with the magic. The added depth of a teen dealing with a sick mother and a basically single-father while navigating drivers-ed and high school bullies made it more down-to-earth as well.
Janis was a perfect and hilarious best-friend character, too. Loved everything about her.
I genuinely look forward to the next book in this series and I’d recommend it to anyone with a soft spot for the old series, witchcraft, fashion, or teen drama.

I loved this book! As a Babysitter’s Club fan, i was pumped to read about sitters and witches. Throw in the fashion, humor and major pit bull love, and you’ve got a winner of a book.

Let me just say a BIG thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an ARC of this book!! I had heard some good things in one of my Facebook book groups, and I really like the description "Adventures in Babysitting meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer." It might be showing my age, but the first was a movie from my childhood, and the second is only one of the greatest TV shows ever made- so I was anticipating greatness from this book. It did not disappoint. It's a very quick read, easy to dive into, the narrative voice is engaging and funny. It starts off with a bit of a bang, and then it sort of slows a little bit, but once it gets going again it does not stop! It sets out all the plot threads for the next book (or books- who knows how many adventures it will take for the crew to resolve things). This was a great first book in the series, and I am only sad that I have to wait until 2020 for the next installment! I will highly recommend this to all my friends.

I freaking love this amazing cover! But to me the book read a bit on the young side. There was some fun humor, but I think I wanted a bit more. I would have liked more of a romance in there as well. The character was likable and the dialogue was good too!

I totally loved this book. Definitely gave me vibes from my younger years reading the babysitters club. I love that that babysitter's have super powers! Love this story and I'm hoping there will be another one!

I am in SUCH a spooky Fall mood even though it’s June so this was the 🌙🎃✨PERFECT WITCHY READ✨🎃🌙

The Babysitters Witch Coven stars Emse Pearl, just a regular junior in high school with your average cuckoo mom and distant dad. She and her best friend Janis comprise their own Babysitter’s Club, but things are getting weird. A strange man shows up in the night during with the kids they’re watching, luring them away and scaring everybody… A new girl has shown up at school and taken a mysterious interest in the girls’ club… and to top it all off, Esme apparently has super powers?

It’s all a little spooky.

This book is less a witchy retelling and more modern homage to the og Babysitters Club. I didn’t have some issues which I’ll get into, but let’s start with the good! The modernization worked really well, like the cute descriptions of the girls’ thrifted themed outfits (one of my faves was Lydia Deetz Goes to the Beach).

The humor could be so funny (I laughed at that tampon shelf stocking anecdote in the beginning and I’m not ashamed) and the MOOD of this book, though. The cover, which is absolutely gorgeous and so aesthetic, goes hand in hand with the atmosphere in this book. It’s spooky and Halloweeny and witchy and gorgeous, and I loved it! It’s also a very easy read; it’s very entertaining and voices so it’s easy to get engaged and fly through, despite some pacing problems.

Unfortunately, I did have a few issues with the insertion of the feminism, which could feel a bit “all talk, no work”. On one page we had railing against the patriarchy, then on the very next we had a bitch slap cat fight complete with hair pulling, between our MCs and the bitchy caricatured cheerleaders for “stealing [one of the cheerleader’s] man”. I felt this book wanted brownie points for parroting feminist catch phrases but… Sorry, I’m not your troop leader. 😴

I might as well come out and say some of the issues I had with the self-proclaimed intersectionality of the feminism as well. This book is written by a white woman, starring a white MC. Esme’s best friend is Janis, who is black, and is the only one of the club without powers, and spends much of the book being sidelined as a friend who is growing apart.

Then we have Cassandra, who is the new girl at school, and Dion, her older brother. They’re Mexican. Cassandra is described as a terrible student, she displays a shocking lack of empathy, she gets in fist fights, and she shoplifts. Cool. Dion is basically objectified by Esme the whole book… till (no spoilers), then he’s a fuckboy who gets mistreated by the white MC with, again, a shocking lack of empathy. Their family, also, was (SPOILERS) a primary villain/antagonist, whereas Esme’s family was nice and victimized by Cassandra and Dion’s parent. And Janis’s family didn’t even have page time. I’m not saying the things that happened shouldn’t have consequences, but honestly? It felt weird to me. Little red flags were going up for me as I was reading, and I didn’t like. :/ I’m a white girl myself, so I’m not claiming that I know what’s up and what’s down, but I want to outline the things I read so you can make informed reading decisions.

The issue isn’t that we can’t have diverse characters of all personality types and backgrounds–the issue here is that the characters of color are all relegated to negative stereotypes or background roles. For a book that is very vocal about the future being female, the hot takes were surface-level. I’ll sum my feelings up in two sentences: it felt like reading a Buzzfeed article. Obnoxious, hypocritical, and self-serving.

Look, I really want to love this book, so I hesitated so much with this review, and I debated over posting it. I even had my CPs read over my thoughts to see if I was being fair, or if I should reevaluate my feelings and findings in case I was overreacting. But I can honestly say that after reflection and second opinions, I don’t think I am, and as such, I just can’t be disingenuous. I hope I’ve illustrated my points in manner without (much) emotion, so you yourself can judge without my angry haze. I’m really trying to review in an un-sensationalized manner these days (while still being able to crack a sick joke 😜) and I hope that comes across.

I think edits could fix the problems I had with this book, as well as a few sensitivity readers. It could be a very fun book that’s perfect for Halloween if these problems were addressed. There is going to be a sequel (which I didn’t know till the cliffhanger ending–yikes) so maybe some of these things will straighten out in subsequent books.

Esme feels like the girl I was in high school: not popular, but not an outcast; not cool, but not exactly uncool either; a few close friends, plenty of embarrassing moments, an enthusiastic pursuer of her niche interests, and generally a person any parent would feel comfortable leaving their kid with for a night. Even though the chosen one trope is a little worn these days, it felt fresh in this book, because there really was nothing extraordinary about Esme beforehand. She’s the secretly-destined, super-powered girl every average teenager longs to be.

I loved her friendships with both Cassandra and Janis, and I loved that they took precedence over any romantic subplot. Friendships are the most lasting and life-changing relationships I had in high school, and the conflicts felt natural and relatable.

Her relationship with her parents also felt very real to me, as did the entire high school experience. As a child of the 90s, about half of the references in the book went over my head (and that ratio will probably be higher for teens), however, the cultural references and flair made for a voice that hooked me. This book hit me right in the part of my heart where the Buffy fangirl in me lives.

I disliked this book. I picked the book because I thought based on the description it would be a fun read.

My one compliment is I liked the usage of a dead shopping mall as a setting. Multiple malls closed in my area, so I related to the every feeling of being surrounded by shutters shops.

Babysitter’s Coven is neither deep nor entertaining.
The writing style is poor, countless filter words, telling instead of showing and abbreviations. I’d be fine with them in a text message, but abbreviations like AF appear in dialogue and narration. Either include swear words or use ambiguous language like “she cursed.” if the author’s goal was to hide them from young readers.

The pacing is the book is either slow or rushed. Esme’s many paragraphs describing her outfits stall the plot. The villain isn’t foreshadowed so the climax of the novel feels random. Cassandra and Esme develop their powers rapidly. Any inconvenience the characters face is quickly solved. There isn’t any tension.

In regards to characters, many are unlikeable and all are underdeveloped. The secondary characters are just plot devices with dialogue. Esme is hypocritical, judgemental, and lazy. She doesn’t learn from these flaws or grow at all. I think the author intended for Esme to be likeable, but readers need more than pop culture references to care about a protagonist. Casandra is slightly more bearable, but perhaps that’s only because she isn’t the protagonist.

Additionally, who is the audience? Based on the content, I can’t imagine readers above 14 enjoying this novel. However, the book is filled with references to older media like Buffy, The Craft, Babysitter’s Club, and horror movies young readers might not understand. Also, entire plot points and character types are copied from Buffy.

I’d rather rewatch Buffy the Vampire Slayer instead of reading Babysitter’s Coven,

This review will be posted on my blog a week before the book’s publication:
https://megansreviewingjourney.tumblr.com

Esme and her friend, Janis, are the last members of their local babysitters club. They work each weekend, taking care of the local children and making a little money on the side. It's better than getting a "real" job.

But, except for her best friend and her babysitting, Esme just doesn't have much else. Her mom was committed to an asylum when Esme was young and Esme doesn't get along well with others. She's dealing with her life, though, such as it is.

Then Cassandra and Dion come into her life.

Cassandra is nothing like Esme, but she seems to be determined to join the babysitters club for some strange reason.

It turns out Cassandra has her own home life issues and Esme may be the key to solving the mysteries that have surrounded Cassandra and her brother since their parents died.

When strange things start happening around Esme, she and Cassandra must work together to understand what's going on.

Final thoughts: Messy book. This is a bad combination of The Baby-Sitters Club and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's awkward and poorly written with very little to recommend. There is no build-up of anything, including tension. Things just happen without warning and then go away just as fast. Not good and not worth reading the next book.

Rating: 1/5

ARC courtesy of NetGalley

I didn't know what to expect when I started this. To be frank, I thought the summary reminded me a bit of those 80s-90s teen thriller movies. I LOVE those movies, so that ultimately led to me requesting this. Despite that, I still
wasn't entirely sure what I was getting myself into, but I think it was worth it in the end.

I found this to have a very slow start. Like veeerrrryyy slow. It was a slow burn, but I felt that it just dragged quite a bit. I almost didn't really feel like continuing when I was a quarter of the way through. However, I did find it start to pick up the further we went along. By the end, I found it to be quite a thrill ride and was really pleased on the ending!

I found the character development to be good. Was it perfect? Definitely not. I mostly blame the way it dragged and the constant descriptions and exposition put into it. Constantly pointing out a certain character trait just made it lose it's effect. They would get beat into the ground and just made me not care so much anymore. There's also the fact that many of the characters we encounter just don't have much going on for them. For the way this book takes itself though, it was good enough to give us some life to these guys.

Story though. This one shines in the plot department. The quirkiness and thrill of the story is what saves this book. It keeps itself fresh and interesting, and ultimately makes itself fun to read as you go on. Even though it has a rough start, it starts to find itself and just becomes fun. With the meh character development, the story keeps this book afloat. Unfortunately, even though I found myself enjoying it by the end, the beginning is easily forgettable.

Overall, this was an alright book. I'd suggest going to your local library and picking it up there first before committing to buying a copy.

ARC provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Beautifully written and a real page-turner. I fell in love with this story and the characters. Couldn't put it down and was so invested into it. Hope it gets the hype it deserves upon release.

This book is SO MUCH FUN and I can’t believe I have to wait another year to read the next in the series. It’s basically the BSC meets The Craft — in other words, it’s awesome.